quote:“We currently do 35 [Mbps upstream on the company's most expensive tier]. We can go higher than that,” Wilt Hildenbrand, Cablevision’s long-time engineering exec and currently serving as a senior advisor, said. “Right now, we’re not going to chase that dog around the track of speed contests, but we have some bullets left in the gun."

That may include waiting for DOCSIS 3.1, which should provide a little more legroom on the upstream side of the equation.

Willing to wait & see

I'd rather CV be a little bit reserved in these things. I'm on their 101/35 service now and it's been exceedingly stable and zippy. Would I use faster upload speeds? Maybe but I don't want it at the expense of network stability.

Re: In other words..

The vast majority of end users could care less about the upload speed at this point in time and they know it. So why bother to spend the money to take it beyond 35 just for the sake of marketing?--I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company.

Honestly I'm a FiOS customer and a heavy netflix user who is frankly tired of Verizon and Comcast's BS. I'm currently in FiOS / Comcast territory, But in Sept I'm moving back to FiOS / Cablevision territory.

I just got more upload on FiOS but I continue to watch 288 and 380p crappy SD netflix encodes because of their peering BS. So when I move I'm switching to cablevision, I'll lose a little upload speed, but Cablevision is one of the fastest Netflix performers, they understand that it's content their customers are paying them to provide.

Re: In other words..

Indeed, while they are not the fastest, they are one of the most consistent. I'm running SamKnows box and I have measured proof that I'm getting above advertised speeds probably over 99.9% of the time.--[Sig removed by Administrator: signature can not exceed 20GB]

Re: In other words..

Yeah, FIOS is just as slow if not slower. I switched to Cablevision 1 month ago from FIOS and had one of the newer Motorola HD boxes which was noticeably slower than Cablevision's Samsung boxes have been.

I'm internet only, don't need tv or phone.I will give you that from what I remember when I was a cablevision customer about 4 years ago, that their boxes sucked bad.My FiOS boxes are honestly maybe slightly better, but no picnic either, but I'm cutting the cord when I move.Tired of paying tons for tv that I never watchOTA + netflix + amazon instant video is all I really need.

hmm

They don't have to compete on speed as long as they compete on price. IF they make the 115/35 tier cheaper then they can get back some customers .

They also have the optimumwifi which they said gets a lot of use. Until Verizon and att go back to unlimited wireless data optimum wifi will be a big plus to a lot of people. Something Verizon doesn't have.

Re: hmm

Yes they are. Fios is $49.99 a month for the first year, cablevision is $39.95 for the first year. in the second year fios goes to $69.99 a month and cablevision goes to $49.95 a month for the second year.

Re: hmm

Yes they are. Fios is $49.99 a month for the first year, cablevision is $39.95 for the first year. in the second year fios goes to $69.99 a month and cablevision goes to $49.95 a month for the second year.

That's for each services base package straight from their website.

Per the WSJ article I linked, no that are not price matching when it comes to triple play. And it is the reason they lost video, internet and phone subs:

"Cablevision chalked up the decline to a $70-a-month triple-play offer by FiOS. Cablevision, by contrast, has opted to hold the line on pricing. Average revenue per user was higher than expected in the quarter thanks to that discipline and recent broadband and video price increases. Operating margins rose smartly from a year earlier."

IMO they better start competing on price or they will continue to bleed customers, unless they want higher profit margins with less subs. Considering Wilt says they are not responding speed wise at the moment, they may want to start on price, especially on the triple play.

I don't see CV offering 15/5 as standalone for under $40 anymore. Feel free to post some ads. Base price for standalone is $49 - $59 range. $60 - $70 for Verizon (25/25)

BTW, I think talk is talk.. If CV loses lots of customers over symmetrical, of course they are obligated to do something (offer docsis 3.1 speeds finally and/or cut prices). I don't think a few thousand more WIFI hotspots are going to do the trick. They decided to upgrade 50mbit subs to 101mbits for a reason.. and it wasn't to fatten the bottom line (retention), that's for sure.

What CV did with the upgrade was offer it for free in a customer's price lock period and then jack up the rate by as much as $20. This is what likely future upgrades will entail. However, when customers see their prices go up, they will be knocking on the competitor's door to see if they have a better price. What's Verizon going to say? No!?Customers tend to look at price first, and QOS second (with SOME exceptions for really bad experiences) at least in broadband. You can bet that how customers have been prevented from streaming video could factor into the choice made too (or whether you were one of the LAST on the list to get the upgrades, pfft!).

Offer for new residential customers subscribing to Optimum Online only. 1 modem/router per household. As of the 13th month Optimum Online will be billed at $49.95. As of the 25th month, Optimum Online will be billed at regular rate of $59.95. Install fee applies for professional installation.

Re: hmm

I could be wrong, but I remember OOL basic moving up to $49.95 around the time of the 50 to 101mbit [free] upgrades. Many O'Customers would end up paying $55 a month instead of $45. Perhaps two $10 rate increases was too much, but they were reacting to Verizon's outrageous price increases across all products and services. I wonder how many got to keep ultra 101 paying $55 a month as a loyalty thing-- which would now cost about $95.

I remember higher rates in 2013 because I was paying about $65 a month for 50mbits (first year at $45 when OOL was $29.95 base *2012ish was the end of the $29.95 promo) when it was called boost for $15 more a month-- but set to the off promotion (year 2) of $49.95 made it $65. That's was brought me to Verizon until 2015. Net savings of $10 a month for 2 years with higher fluff, especially on the upload.

I think ultra 101 @ $55-$60, not an additional $40 (about 50-60 cents per megabit downstream) would keep plenty of customers out of Verizon's hands for a while even with asymmetrical down around 35-40 mbits. It would beat FIOS 75/75 hands down-- at $95, FIOS is back on the table.

I'm very happy with my home OOL service (fastest connection I've ever had), but the no-additional-charge Optimum wifi is a joke. It's almost always slower than my phone's regular GSM/LTE connection (AT&T) and, more importantly, it injects advertisements into the HTML requests I make.

CableLabs' new Low Latency Initiative

quote:But perhaps theres too much of a focus on raw speeds and the focus on megabits and gigabits. An initiative underway at CableLabs is lavishing some attention on milliseconds.

CableLabs is exploring the implementation of Active Queue Management (AQM), a technology thats designed to reduce latency, buffering and packet loss  elements that can improve the overall performance of DOCSIS-delivered broadband services. Posting big speeds will always provide grist for the marketing people, but CableLabs believes that an additional focus on latency can juice up the performance of broadband-fueled multiplayer gaming, video conferencing, video streaming and even the simple task of loading Web pages.

The implementation of AQM could have a dramatic impact on the user experience, Dan Rice, CableLabs senior vice president of network technologies, said in a recent interview

CableLabs has amended DOCSIS 3.0 with a recommendation that AQM be added to existing gear, via a firmware upgrade if possible, and has mandated AQM in DOCSIS 3.1 equipment  both at the cable modem and at the cable modem termination system.

13 Years

When I signed up for OOL at The Wiz back in August 2001 (had to buy my modem), OOL speeds were, as the article notes, unheard of in the industry. There was only one tier and you got 10/1 service. Today, $20 higher than my initial rate (which actually went up $10 to $49.95 about five months in but I was under contract), and I get 18/5 service. On the plus side, I do not need the higher speeds that the $5/month Boost add-on provide but it is ironic that Cablevision's speeds are no longer industry leading.--I support the right to keep and arm bears.